Alleged design flaw delays Nvidia Blackwell AI/GPU launch
Nvidia’s Blackwell AI chips reportedly delayed due to alleged design flaw
Nvidia’s facing a lot of issues right now. For starters, they are currently being investigated by the US Department of Justice over alleged anti-competitive practices. Furthermore, the company’s next-generation “Blackwell” AI chips have reportedly been delayed due to an alleged design flaw.
Thanks to this alleged flaw, large shipments of Blackwell AI products have reportedly been delayed until Q1 2025. This delay has a knock-on effect with Nvidia’s largest AI customers. These customers include Google, Meta, and Microsoft.
Nvidia Corp.’s upcoming artificial intelligence chips will be delayed due to design flaws. The Information reports, citing two unidentified people who help produce the chip and its server hardware. The chips may be delayed by three months or more, which could affect Nvidia’s customers, including Meta Platforms Inc., Google LLC, and Microsoft Corp.
If Nvidia’s Blackwell design flaw is real, Nvidia will need to fix their chips, validate their fix, and then put their new, redesigned chip into production. These step all take time and cost of lot of money. That said, these costs are nothing for Nvidia given the profitability of their AI products.
Delays for Blackwell are bad for Nvidia, as it gives Nvidia’s competitors time to catch up. A delayed Blackwell launch will push Nvidia’s Blackwell rollout closer to that of next-generation AI accelerators from AMD and others. While Nvidia should remain dominant within the AI market, these delays show that Nvidia isn’t invincible.
(Nvidia Blackwell HGX B100 system)
AI is by far the largest part of Nvidia’s business, enabling the meteoric rise of the company’s stock prices in recent years. Large Nvidia AI systems can cost millions each. Note that such units often feature a large number of Nvidia Grace CPUs alongside a huge number of AI superchips.
AI acceleration is a critical part of Nvidia’s business, making any delays in Blackwell’s launch hugely embarrassing for the AI giant. The long term consequences of this alleged delay are unknown, but in the short term it should see Nvidia’s customers explore alternative options. If nothing else, this alleged delay makes the firm seem less reliable. That’s not a good look for one of the world’s most valuable companies.
You can join the discussion on Nvidia’s rumoured Blackwell delay on the OC3D Forums.
